Initiative focuses attention on global warming / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, January 28, 2008

Teach-in, panel discussion at KU have multidisciplinary scope

By Kristi Henderson - khenderson@ljworld.com

January 28, 2008

This week, Kansas University students and faculty will be part of a nationwide initiative to focus attention on global warming.

The initiative, Focus the Nation, will be a combination of a teach-in - billed by organizers as the nation's largest - and a panel discussion featuring local and state leaders. The initiative, organized by KU Hillel and the KU Center for Sustainability, will be spread over two days, Wednesday and Thursday.

KU is one of more than 1,600 participating institutions, a group that includes colleges, universities, civic organizations and faith-based groups. The groups represent all 50 states.

Focus the Nation is a project of the Green House Network, an environmental advocacy group, and is directed by Eban Goodstein, economics professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

"Today's college students are truly the greatest generation," Goodstein said in a statement. "No other generation has ever had to face this kind of civilizational challenge. And we as educators would be failing if we did not prepare them with the tools to meet this challenge."

Professors in at least 40 KU classes plan to discuss global warming as it relates to their subjects - ranging from biology and geology to French and Russian.

Jeff Severin, director of the KU Center for Sustainability, said that diversity exemplifies the interdisciplinary cooperation that is necessary to combat global warming.

"It's not just something that should be discussed in science classes," Severin said. "It's something that has a potential to affect us all. It's going to require creative solutions from all disciplines to really face this challenge."

Severin said 1,600 KU students will be reached through the teach-in.

Greg Burg, assistant director of undergraduate biology at KU, will use the teach-in to talk to his medical entomology students about the effect global warming has on mosquito populations. He said as the climate has warmed, a big concern in his field has been the movement of mosquitoes from the tropics to the southern United States. He said those mosquitoes can carry diseases such as malaria and dengue.

"The impact is much, much broader than most people realize," Burg said.

A panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Dole Institute of Politics on KU's West Campus is designed to engage students - and the community. Among those scheduled to appear are U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, state Sen. Marci Francisco, Mayor Sue Hack and City Commissioner Boog Highberger.

Matt Lehrman, program director at KU Hillel, said that discussion offers a rare opportunity to see public officials interact.

"You don't often get to see elected officials conversing back and forth," Lehrman said. "It's a conversation to see where we are and where we can get to. I think to see that in person rather than on TV is going to be important."

For more information about Focus the Nation, visit www.focusthenation.org or www2.ku.edu/~sustain.

- Staff writer Kristi Henderson can be reached at 832-7222.

Discussion

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28 January 2008
at 7:11 a.m.

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bondmen (Anonymous) says…

Any balanced discussion of the global warming topic should include the scientific analysis presented in The Great Global Warming Swindle at http://www.demanddebate.com/globalwar…

Educating and empowering parents to eliminate bias in environmental education begins here.
28 January 2008
at 9:28 a.m.

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justthefacts (Anonymous) says…

Saying something is so enough times does not make it so - unless you already want to believe it. As many people as I have heard saying Global Warming is real and will destroy the earth (sooner or later) I have also heard others saying it is not true or good science. Thus, I would really like it if the students who are being asked to believe in GW all this week are also given the facts on both sides - so they can make an informed decision. It behooves persons who are not making money off the GW messages (grants for studies and/or politicians with an agenda) to give both sides of the story. Brain washing is never a good idea for anyone, let alone a whole nation.
28 January 2008
at 9:35 a.m.

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Left_handed (Anonymous) says…

just, bond, don't hold your breath expecting this thing to be balanced at all. It will be an Algoresque hysteria parade, as evidenced by the liberal bent both of those who are attending and the venue in which it is being held. Yes, Global Warming is merely a sub-religion of the greater religion of naturalistic evolution.
28 January 2008
at 11:26 a.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Challenge orthodoxy.
28 January 2008
at 12:22 p.m.

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BigDog (Anonymous) says…

Not arguing this thing one way or another …. but one should always look closely at the science and the funding source for the research.

Oil companies and other similar groups fund a fair amount of the arguments against global warming.

University scientists who make huge amounts of money from the global warming research funded by government and environmental groups.
28 January 2008
at 1:04 p.m.

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camper (Anonymous) says…

I'm no scientist but lately I have been watching some documentaries on global warming (History Channel). Is the claim about global warming convincing? Yes. Especially when showing the above normal melting of glaciers and ice-caps. Is this a normal cycle in the earth's atmosphere? Possibly.

But I am truly concerned about the exponential effect some of these changes could produce in the upcoming decades. As for myself, I cannot prove global warming is true, but I will never be a naysayer.
28 January 2008
at 1:21 p.m.

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justthefacts (Anonymous) says…

“and the venue in which it is being held” - If this is meant to imply that the Dole Institute is liberal, I am laughing aloud at that one. Anyone who has attended a great number of their events knows that is not true. They may a valiant effort to present programs from all sides of the spectrum, and I know for a fact that some of their staff do not believe the GW theories are correct. One recently reminded me of the scare in the 80's caused by scientists predicting the next ice age was coming.

It would indeed be very helpful to know (a) what science backs up any theory (in detail) and (b) how much $$ the scientists who came up with that theory have made or are making from doing the research on that issue. Instead, most of the time all we can get is dire warnings and insults for not simply automatically believing everying that is said by some people or buying into the latest theories being taught to our young people.

28 January 2008
at 1:52 p.m.

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bondmen (Anonymous) says…

its_getting_warmer - Your straw man Milloy has nothing to do with The Great Global Warming Swindle DVD.

The DVD is merely offered for sale at a much lower price at demanddebate.com than from the British group which produced it, WAGtv. Mr. Martin Durkin wrote and directed the documentary which runs 158 minutes.

For the science behind the film see www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.com
28 January 2008
at 4:15 p.m.

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camper (Anonymous) says…

I watched the Sasquatch episode too. They had a good one too about the Lochness monster. Even some episodes on aliens. I believe it all.
28 January 2008
at 4:24 p.m.

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lildos (Anonymous) says…

From what I heard the teach in sessions will provide a quick overview of the latest studies regarding global warming, and while it may be a little “tilted” towards the idea that we need to do something about GW to stop, it also provides some good information on the idea that GW is not as bad (or at least it is a natural phenomenon).

No matter who teaches or reads about this issue, the GW issue will always be perceived as biased. What needs to happen is an open debate, which would be almost impossible since interests are high on both sides (socially, economically, culturally).

My personal opinion is: okay, maybe GW is not happening. But if it is, would it be better to be prepared for the consequences? While some proposals are outrageous and unrealistic I think that something needs to be done, since by fight GW (be it real or not) we are in many other ways improving the quality of life of all of the humanity.

But again, for this to happen we need to do ways with the tragedy of the commons mentality. Everyone needs to be on the same page, and that clearly will not happen…

So I am ready for GW in some ways. For one, I am sure not to move to the coast anytime soon, since chances are human induced GW or not, inundations will happen.
28 January 2008
at 7:44 p.m.

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JSpizias (Anonymous) says…

lildos says:
“No matter who teaches or reads about this issue, the GW issue will always be perceived as biased. What needs to happen is an open debate, which would be almost impossible since interests are high on both sides (socially, economically, culturally).”

Check out the debate sponsored by the IQ2 society of NYC on the thesis “Global Warming is not a crisis”. People who attended were polled before and after the debate.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st…

You might also take a look at what Freeman Dyson, Physicist at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study had to say about “global warming”.

http://www.edge.org/documents/archive…

Note that all of these dire predictions are being made on the basis of computer models of the earth and its atmosphere. A majority of climate scientists surveyed by Bray and Von Storch agreed that climate conditions couldn't be predicted a decade in advance much less ten decades.
dvsun3.gkss.de/berichte/gkss_Berichte_2007/GKSS_2007_11.pdf
28 January 2008
at 7:52 p.m.

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JSpizias (Anonymous) says…

More detail on the Van Storch Survey

The Perspectives of Climate Scientists on Global Climate Change
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Bray, Dennis and Hans von Storch. 1997 'The Climate Change Issue Perspectives and. Interpretations' in Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of …
dvsun3.gkss.de/berichte/gkss_Berichte_2007/GKSS_2007_11.pdf